AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#9
Wednesday 27 September 2023 | Privett Park, Gosport | Att: 923
LEAGUE LEADERS LEAP AHEAD AND NEVER LOOK BACK IN DOMINANT WIN
GOSPORT BOROUGH 2
Charlie Wassmer 4mins; Harvey Rew 58mins
AFC TOTTON 0
AFC TOTTON SUNK to their third defeat of the season at the hands of league leaders Gosport Borough at Privett Park on Wednesday evening.
Benny Read returned to the starting line-up at right-back, after missing the last two games. That meant the versatile Charlie Kennedy returned to the midfield, where he continues to deputise for Mike Carter. Ben Winterburn dropped to the bench, in an otherwise unchanged team from the one that beat Swindon Supermarine at the Snows Stadium on Saturday.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
5. Charlie KENNEDY
15. Sam MAGRI
7. Joseph OASTLER
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
8. Adam TOMASSO
14. Ben WINTERBURN
17. Leon MALONEY
10. Ethan TAYLOR
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
16. Alfie STANLEY
Substitutes
2. Benny READ
6. Luke HALLETT
11. Matty BURROWS
18. Jake SCRIMSHAW
20. Harry THOMAS
The home side wore their usual kit of yellow shirts, dark blue shorts and yellow socks. Totton wore their usual blue home shirts with the blue socks, but in order to avoid a clash with their hosts, The Stags wore white shorts.
Gosport came flying out of the blocks, registering the game’s first attempt on target after just 20 seconds when Danny Hollands received the ball 20 yards out and drove a low shot that Lewis Noice, making his 101st AFC Totton appearance, saved to his left.
Read almost got caught out by a crossfield pass that threatened to put Brad Tarbuck in on the Gosport left wing, but a slip enabled the Totton full-back to steal the ball back.
The home side came forward again, winning a fourth-minute corner on the right via Ragguette’s defensive block. Harry Kavanagh sent a high cross into the penalty area where Charlie WASSMER rose highest amongst a cluster of blue and yellow shirts to direct a thumping header downward. Noice got both hands to it but could only push the ball into the inside-netting behind his left-hand post.
Kennedy tried to find Taylor on the left flank with a high diagonal pass which Wassmer, a central defender, rose again to head clear. When Taylor was able to gain possession on the left with a little room to manoeuvre, his dipping cross just eluded Rendell and gave goalkeeper Toby Steward enough difficulty that he needed two attempts to gather.
Ragguette raced back to dispossess Alex Barsa near the corner flag on Totton’s left. Then in the 11th minute, Hollands tested Noice again with another low, long-range effort after Jonathan Efedje and Tarbuck made progress down the Gosport left before switching the play into the middle for the central midfielder to take aim.
Having struggled to assert themselves early on, The Stags finally managed to muster a meaningful attack when Magri found Read on the right touchline and the full-back clipped a pass beyond the Gosport left-back to play Maloney at the corner of the area, where he was bundled over by Rory Williams. To the disbelief of the travelling fans, the Referee saw nothing wrong with the challenge and awarded the home side a goal kick.
Read’s header found Maloney on the right wing, and his low cross towards Tomasso was hooked away at the near post for a corner. Taylor’s low centre caused a moment of panic within the Borough defence, but they managed to scrape the ball clear before anyone in a blue shirt could take a strike on goal.
Read picked up a yellow card for knocking Efedje over in the 16th minute. The free-kick was headed out and Taylor tried to release Ragguette to attack down the left wing but a strong, well-timed sliding tackle by Kavanagh put the kibosh on that idea. Then, Read overlapped Maloney on the right and sent in a low cross that looped into the air via a deflection off a defender. As the ball dropped to Tomasso on the edge of the box, Hollands caught him with a lunging challenge, conceding a free-kick and earning himself a yellow card. From 20 yards out in a central position, Maloney took aim but his shot rebounded back off the wall, with the Referee ignoring claims from the Totton dug-out that the players in Gosport’s defensive wall had encroached before Maloney’s shot.
Oastler picked out Taylor with a long diagonal pass, but the winger was crowded out by Gosport defenders doubling-up on him. Then, Tarbuck was allowed to carry the ball a long way down the centre before he ran into Totton defenders. When the ball popped loose to the left, on the edge of the penalty area, Efedje cut infield on his right foot and curled a shot wide of the far post.
Borough got forward in numbers as they attacked down their right wing, Magri - his head bandaged as a memento of the knock he picked up at home to Swindon Supermarine at the weekend - intercepted the cross and removed the danger.
Kennedy tried to slip Maloney into the inside-right channel, but a defender’s foot knocked it out for a right-wing corner. Maloney’s original cross came straight back to him but his second delivery was only a fraction too high for the inrushing Magri who was denied by the slightest flick off a defender. A corner from the opposite flank was headed on by Oastler at the near post before Gosport got the ball clear.
Williams was booked for chopping Maloney down outside the right corner of the Borough penalty area, after Read’s pass he put the playmaker into a dangerous area. Taylor curled the ball towards the far post where Steward punched clear under pressure from Magri and Oastler.
Tarbuck won a corner on the home side’s right. They played the ball back and delivered a cross from deep, which was headed on by a yellow shirt but taken cleanly by Noice. Taylor then managed to work his way to the left-wing byline before being dispossessed.
Ragguette made an important sliding defensive tackle to prevent Tarbuck latching onto Corey Jordan’s throughball into the inside-right channel.
Shortly before half-time, persistent work from Read to force Kennedy’s pass further forward down the right-hand side almost gave Scott Rendell his first sniff of the evening, but Wassmer was there to clear the danger for the home side.
HALF-TIME
GOSPORT BOROUGH 1
AFC TOTTON 0
Totton came out for the second half with Ben Winterburn on in place of Jordan Ragguette, who emerged on the sidelines with his arm in a sling.
Before many fans had returned to their seats, Gosport were presented with a golden opportunity to extend their lead when Oastler struggled to get to grips with a bouncing ball down the centre of the pitch with Dan Wooden breathing down his neck. Oastler stumbled and Wooden managed to wriggle clear of his grasp, but Noice came out quickly to narrow the angle and block the shot.
Read had one delivery turned away from the right, before Taylor experienced likewise from the left wing. When Read managed to force a corner on the right, Maloney and Taylor were not on the same wavelength and their attempted short corner broke down without Gosport having to intervene.
A cross from the Gosport right almost caught out the Totton defence. Efedje slipped in the middle but Wooden snuck in on the blindside of The Stags’ central defence to collect. Read was alive to the situation, though, and got back to make a strong tackle before the forward could shoot.
In the 52nd minute, Magri directed play out to Taylor on the left. The winger brought the ball under control instantly and he curled in a low cross that Rendell met with a sliding shot. Steward saved and the ball came back to Rendell, but the flag was up on the far side.
Gosport capitalised on some loose passing by Totton near the centre-circle to find Efedje on their left wing. He drove infield with purpose and hit a low shot that Noice saved with his legs. From the left-wing corner, they played the ball back, where a foul by Tomasso resulted in a free-kick to the home side. The ball was lofted into the box; Oastler tried to clear but could only send the ball looping back towards his own goal. Kennedy headed off the line as far as the edge of the area from where Harvey REW drilled it through the crowd and into the back of the net to double Borough’s lead.
Jimmy Ball sent on Matty Burrows in place of Stanley, to try and inject more urgency into Totton’s attacking play.
Tomasso was dispossessed by Hollands in the middle of the Gosport half to prevent the visitors building a meaningful attacking move. Then, Burrows managed to wriggle his way into the right-wing byline before trying a shot from a tight angle that Steward repelled at his near post.
A looped pass into the Totton half pitted Kennedy in a foot race with Efedje, the defender doing enough to force the ball out for a corner on the left. The in-swinging cross was met at the near post but headed over by a Gosport player.
Winterburn found himself set upon by two Gosport players just outside the Totton box. They managed to wrestle the ball from him but as it came to Wooden in the middle, Kennedy performed an inch-perfect sliding tackle to shutdown the threat, amid optimistic claims of “penalty!” from many of the home fans among the 923 attendance.
Taylor was shown the yellow card for a late foul. Then Magri was penalised for grappling with an opponent close to the corner of his own penalty area on the Gosport right. From the free-kick, Kavanagh drifted his cross wide of the far post when he might have taken on a direct shot.
Read and Burrows combined to make rapid progress up the right wing for Totton, but Read’s centre clipped the heel of a retreating defender. Then in the 72nd minute, substitute Jake Scrimshaw forced Steward into a miss-kick. Rendell knocked the ball wide to Taylor and his cross looped over the bar.
An incisive pass from Tomasso played Burrows in behind the Gosport left-back. With teammates arriving in the middle, the situation required a first-time low delivery into the centre, but he checked back onto his left foot before sending over a high cross that looped harmlessly over everyone and out of play.
To sum up a frustrating evening, Jimmy Ball had his name taken for voicing his displeasure following an incorrect call by the Referee to the assistant on the near-side touchline.
Gosport sub David Tarpey fired into the side-netting after being played in down the right by a combination of Wassmer and Barsa. Then, Burrows cut in from the right for Totton and let fly with his left foot, bringing a smart save out of Steward low to his right. Scrimshaw advanced upon the rebound but was instantly flagged offside.
Read darted into the Gosport penalty area at inside-right before playing a square pass to Taylor, whose left-footed shot from 14 yards hit the crossbar. Then, Read thought he had a penalty shout after being taken down at the right-wing byline, but the Referee said the defender had taken the ball.
Totton continued to probe with Burrows looking to be the most likely source of a breakthrough, but the home side were able to sit back with the safety net of their two-goal cushion and saw the game out without fuss.
After the match, AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball (pictured) said:
“You have to give credit to Gosport. They are top of the league for a reason and I thought they were very good tonight. They did the non-negotiable of football more effectively than we did and they earned the right to play their football and go and win the game. We didn’t carry our usual threat and we didn’t of enough to hurt them.
“We may have conceded both goals from set-pieces but that’s the first time since I’ve been at AFC Totton that we’ve been outplayed in a competitive match. Swindon Supermarine had a lot of the ball at the weekend, but they couldn’t hurt us and we found another way to win. Tonight, although we rallied a bit towards the end and Matty Burrows made a difference coming off the bench, we never really stretched them.
“Jordan Ragguette came off at half-time. He had fallen awkwardly on his shoulder, which was a bit painful for him, but it shouldn’t keep him out for too long. We’ve now have at least two consecutive cup games coming up - three, if we beat Berkhamsted on Saturday because the next round of the FA Cup comes round quite fast. I will be putting out the strongest teams I can - if there are football matches to be won, then we want to win them. If I rotate the squad at all, then it will be to win those matches. We might try to get some of those returning from injury on the pitch, but only if we as a management team are confident they are ready to contribute positively.”
Southern League Premier Division South table
Next Up: AFC TOTTON vs BERKHAMSTED
Emirates FA Cup | Third Qualifying Round | Snows Stadium, Totton | Saturday 30 September 2023 | Kick-Off at 3:00pm
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
